Self study level 4

freakyogre

Hi all,

I appreciate this question may be asked quite a lot, but I just wondered what the general opinion was on self studying for level 4?

I have been studying at college for level 2 and 3 (just coming to the end of level 3 at the moment) and although I have so far been ok with this, I was considering self studying for a few reasons.

I'd be able to study at my own pace; I did find I was a little bit slower than the rest of the class and needed to go over things a couple of times before they sunk in. I think if I was able to go at my own pace, i'd be less likely to panic. Plus, we studied 2 units a week and I found jumping from one to another quite difficult so would rather concentrate on one at a time.

We have been let down both years at college with tutors leaving and no/poor cover being put in place, so I would say that I have probably self studied 2-3 units of level 3 myself anyway. Although I appreciate that level 4 is a step up, I think I could probably do it by myself.

I was planning on getting the text books for level 4 over the summer anyway so I have a head start whatever I do decide on, but still not quite sure whether to self study, to carry on with college (although a different provider as ours is no longer running it), or to give distance learning a try.

Any opinions most welcome :)

Nps

You've summed it up really. Study at your own pace, see how you get on. College (or a distance learning provider) will still be there if you decide self studying isn't for you. And as you state, you have the summer to see how you get on before you have to make a final decision.

Give it a go, you've got nothing to lose. As you say, you'll have a head start after summer regardless of what you decide.

Kinglee89

Hi.

You could have a look through some of the Level 4 Books to see how you get on. Im currently self Studying level 4 after Level 3 and so far so good.

See how you get on, you might find it easer to do it on your own, and may even be cheaper.

Good Luck!

ackeeandsaltfish

I did level 2 & 3 at college and now im doing level 4 at home as like you i did half of it myself i actually had another tutor who did the other half of the course and was excellent actually she prepared me for level 4 as my mind was stretched beyond level 3, since i signed up to kaplan i cannot fault them with the support and help and if i feel confident on a subject i only need to buy the book and pay for the exam.

I paid for the premium pack for FNST and to tell the truth it was just like how some of the tutors teach give a demo and get down to it but with the added bonus of returning back to the tutorial if you did not get it.

Also you have the opportunity to do one thing at a time instead of a couple

All the Best

Danny

boxoctosis

Regarding your apparent "slowness" I thought that myself as the rest of the class seemed to pick up things much faster. However, it was interesting to see what happened at exam time; I mostly "exceeded", whereas most of the others were various shades of scraping-through.

freakyogre

Thank you for your replies and apologies for not replying sooner.

I've looked into so many options and have decided to go back to 'college' for a few reasons. All in all, it doesn't work out that much cheaper to do distance learning/totally by myself as it all adds up with books and exam fees etc.
I've asked lots of questions as still worried about being let down again, but decided to just take the plunge! I'm hoping the support will be there if needed, whereas if I do it myself i'm literally on my own.

My employer have also very kindly agreed to pay for the next level, so obviously that has helped with my decision.

I took my last exam for level 3 today and passed it (yay), so am feeling a lot more positive about it all. I've also ordered all the books for level 4 this evening (they look very big from the eBook versions I've seen!)

boxoctosis - unfortunately we weren't made aware of the fact that there was a breakdown of our results until towards the end of level 3. We were just told that if we wanted more info we had to contact AAT, which I now realise wasn't true. Annoying as it would have been nice to know which areas needed more work.

Roll on September!